'Gifted'?

On Tuesday we were at the Early Years Centre and Bailey walked into the health clinic and started pointing out all the shapes and animals he could see in the waiting room. The clinic sister wanted to know how old he was to already know shapes. She asked what other words he can say etc and she said he is quite advanced for his age and possibly gifted in some areas (letters, numbers etc) She gave me the checklists for 2 year olds and he has already achieved those milestones for language and we worked out he knows well over 200 words. We knew he was smart but doesn't every parent think that? Apparantly they only expect children his age to build towers 4 blocks high and to do 1-4 piece puzzles but he can do heaps more than that.
He's also started displaying more 'Terrible Two'-ish behaviour :-p being difficult and deliberately disobeying us!
He is enjoying colouring in using his new Mess-free Crayola textas after making a huge mess using normal textas yesterday!
And oh yeah the reign of broccolli as his favourite food has ended. He loves stirfry, cheese sticks and pineapple at the moment.
He carries a car or train everywhere!!!

Car Wash

On Sunday Tim and Bailey washed the car. Bailey just loved helping and he got to wear his Nemo swimwear and hat! His favourite part was playing in the warm, soapy water in the bucket! But he did do a pretty good job using the sponge on the car!
Later on in the afternoon he tripped on the concrete and scraped both his knees. There was a lot of blood but he didn't cry - until he saw the band-aids on him which he wanted off!
He can now count to 10 on his own, can say how many fingers a person is holding up to 10 and I'm so proud of all the words he can say now. He can finally say 'Thomas' where previously it was just 'Mas'.
Really enjoying the holiday break and spending lots of time with Bailey, Tim, Mum and Heather.
Have also been spending a lot of time with our friends Anna and Ava lately, it's good to have friends. :-)

Changes

Well there's been a few changes here lately. I am back at work, working as a teacher for a Christian Distance Education School for North Brisbane families. It is work from home but there's a lot of home visits and home calls etc to do. Tim lost his day job but is now focusing on growing his own multimedia business and doing freelance work, as well as being a stay-at-home Dad for Bailey.

Mum and Heather moved here from Perth last week too and have moved into their own rental house near us. It has been great having them here and seeing them settle into their new house.

It's been hard for me to be away from Bailey over the past week as my training has meant I've been away from home a lot lately and I have missed him. He's been a bit naughty/cheeky for Tim some days as well, breaking a part off his lamp and drawing on the coffee table with permanant marker!!

He is getting so clever now can say and point 'A,B,C', still mad about his cars and trucks and loves climbing onto our bed and hiding behind the curtains and loving his books!

My boy is very clever!

Bailey has always been very into books and in the last few weeks he is starting to show that lots of it is sinking in! He has randomly started pointing at numbers and letters in books and naming them. This comes after months of pointing at every number or letter he sees ANYWHERE (letterboxes, number plates, signs, TV) and asking us what it is. He can now recognise and say numbers 2 and 3 and letters C,D,T and Z and correctly identify 14 letters of the alphabet when asked to locate it. I think he's pretty clever but really I guess it is no different from him being able to identify a dog or bird or flower in a picture. He definitely has a very good memory and thinks he's so clever when he gets it right! He is still asking for dozens of books a day, so he's definitely going to be a reader and is even starting to sit down and look at books on his own too. Alphabet books and Thomas as well as The Very Hungry Caterpiller are current favourites. :-)

Long Weekend

This has been another long weekend and we've been busy and having lots of fun! On Saturday night we went to visit Tim's Nan and Aunty in their new home and had dinner there, then on Sunday we went and tried a new church with our brother and sister-in-law then went for lunch at Tim's Mums for his Nan's birthday, and today the three of us went to Centenary Lake for a play at the playground and a walk around the lake and Bailey climbed his first tree! :-) See photo!
Then we had a lovely time when putting him down for his nap and we played this game where he would kiss us and then we'd fly across the room and he laughed and laughed and kept wanting to kiss us, even saying 'kiss, kiss' and putting his face towards us to do it! :-) He's been saying lots more words as well, can sort of say numbers 2,3,4,6 and can say Jesus, go, watch, tree, T (when pointing to a letter T), shoe, and 'ter' when he wants a drink of water.
A favourite food this week has been, strangely, brocolli, and also Nutri-Grain as breakfast or on their own as a snack.
He has loved playing trains and left his Roary the Racing Car toy at the creche at church, hopefully we can get it back next week. He also loved climbing on our bed and 'relaxing' on the pillows and jumping on us when we lay down!
Good times with our little boy, and there's another long weekend just around the corner in June. :-)

Sick :-(

Bailey has been sick and unhappy. Took him to the doctors yesterday morning after he couldn't eat breakfast and kept crying and crying, turns out he had an ear and throat infection again. I guess that explains why his balance has been a bit off kilter lately and he's had a lot more little falls and accidents. But with his medicine and some rest he is feeling much better today, just gotta clear up his nose a bit more. Hate yukky noses and when they are sick and there's nothing you can do to make it better for them :-(. Last night he woke up after 11 and was screaming and crying for nearly an hour and we were holding him and trying things that we thought he might want but he didn't want anything. :-( Not sure if it's related to the sickness or if he had a nightmare as usually when we pick him up he calms down but not last night.. Today he's been heaps better and his appetite is back in full swing!

New words lately and favourite things to say:
car
'D'
google
there - if you ask him where something is
Last night he very clearly said 'Baby' I think he may have been trying to say 'Bailey' though.
He can do the actions to Open, Shut Them and If You're Happy and You Know It and part of the chorus to the Wiggles 'Point your fingers and do the twist' and has started to do actions for 'I love You'. Very sweet! :-)

Was great having Mum over last week while Tim was in Hobart, we found a house for them to rent near us from the end of May. :-)

Bailey's words

Bailey is finally starting to use a few more words frequently.
Here's a list of what he can say to date at 18 months 3 weeks.
Mum/Mummy
Dad/Daddy
car
cat
dog
duck
tissit? (What is it?)
and apparantly 'hourglass' but won't be saying it anymore as it got broken and we threw it away.
Doesn't say yes or no but can shake his head!
Hope to add more words soon, he should be saying more than that by this age I think but he'll get there, we're just happy he's starting to say anything at all! :-)
Tim's away in Hobart this week and Mum is staying with us for the week to find a rental to live in while her house is being built, having a good week so far!